What's Holding Back a Major War?

The muted response to Russia and China's aggressive actions seem to underscore that in an increasingly interdependent world, the power of the state is ever more constrained. The mesh of economic interdependence that deters collective response to egregious behaviour offers some freedom of action to those who dare to challenge the existing order - but only up to a point. Both China and Russia's aggressive yet cautious behaviour underlines an awareness of the limits of their action without incurring the very high cost of tearing up the economic mesh.